Older Adult Bike Program – Portland, Oregon

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Overview

Portland, Oregon is one of the cities leading the way toward more bicycle-friendly communities. Portland launched an Older Adults Bike Program to encourage older adults to try bicycling for transportation and fitness. This Street Films video depicts how much seniors enjoy this program, as well as the health and social benefits this program can have for older adults. The goals of the program are to help seniors retain function as they age, keep them active and engaged in the community, and provide them with a healthy and viable form of transportation around Portland. The video features five seniors from a group called Elders in Action that are trying the program for the first time.

Key Points

After watching the Older Adults Bike Program video on StreetFilms.org is it clear that keeping older adults active and healthy is a top priority for the City of Portland. This program provides older adults with three-wheeled bicycles and miles of safe bike paths. A long-term goal of the program is to eventually have fleets of bikes at senior center around Portland so seniors can hop on a bike to go pick up a prescription, run some errands, visit a friend’s house nearby, or just get some exercise.

Portland’s Older Adults Bike Program is an excellent example of an innovative project to keep seniors social engaged in the community and physically active. This fun and functional program reinforces the numerous benefits bicycling provides for older adults, as well as the importance of providing safe and accessible bicycle infrastructure so programs like this can be successful.

How to Use

Community planners, citizens, local leaders, and senior advocates, among others should watch this video on Portland’s Older Adults Bike Program to better understand how Portland is working to create bicycle-friendly communities and to encourage healthy, active aging among its older adult population. This is an excellent program that deserves much attention. Though certain elements main need to be changed depending on the area, cities across the country can implement similar programs to help their seniors remain active, engaged, happy, and fulfilled in their communities.